| Torrential rain fell from a brown-grey
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| | the ancient key.Eventually the key turned
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| sky. Impromptu streams formed themselves
| |
| | and I pushed open the heavy door.
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| inthe middle of the roads, making driving
| |
| | Immediately inside the door it was dark,
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| difficult. It was very cold.I have often
| |
| | and the darkness became intense after the
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| had the experience, in my researches, of
| |
| | door swung shut behind me. Moving
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| penetrating into ever more remote areas
| |
| | forward, I entered the main body of the
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| of the county, only to find even more
| |
| | church where a brownish light came
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| obscure communities that lie beyond. Just
| |
| | through the windows from the wet
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| as you think you know a region, it
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| | afternoon sky. The rain thundered down on
|
| surprises you with yet another aspect
| |
| | the roof.The interior was basically one
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| that appears, as if from nowhere.Such a
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| | large room divided into a nave and a
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| district is the south-easternmost part of
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| | chancel. The furnishings were sumptuous
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| the escarpment (the hills peter out, but
| |
| | Victorian, with brass chandeliers
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| unexpectedly appear again, at a lower
| |
| | suspended over the chancel like golden
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| level, hidden by trees). This group of
| |
| | crowns (looking up at them through the
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| wooded hills is crossed by a confusing
| |
| | murky light I saw that they held candles,
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| cats cradle of lanes between two market
| |
| | so yet another building in the
|
| towns. There is an unsettling quality to
| |
| | twenty-first century lit by candlelight).
|
| the atmosphere in this locality, almost a
| |
| | Some indifferent medieval wall paintings,
|
| creepiness - not entirely unpleasant, but
| |
| | preserved more for their great antiquity
|
| there are places you would not want to
| |
| | rather than any artistic merit.I had
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| stay after night has fallen. An example
| |
| | walked about halfway down the length of
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| being the village I went to last
| |
| | the church, when my intuition told me,
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| Sunday.It comprised a tiny estate around
| |
| | insistently: something is behind you .
|
| an Edwardian hall, the village all of a
| |
| | Looking round I saw the upper half of the
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| piece architecturally. The village was at
| |
| | west end was filled by a gallery, and on
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| the base of a small valley, with a
| |
| | this gallery I could see
|
| sluggish and meandering river going
| |
| | dazzlingPre-Raphaelite figures (highly
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| through it. Steep slopes to the sides of
| |
| | coloured with golden halos). In the gloom
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| the valley, very green fields, hedgerows
| |
| | I thought for a moment (an unpleasant
|
| bordering the lanes with oak trees dotted
| |
| | moment) the figures were alive (it was a
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| along them (the trees so swathed in ivy
| |
| | real "Da Vinci Code" moment!), until
|
| they appear to be choking). There were a
| |
| | rationality gained control andI could see
|
| few large farmhouses, and a short street
| |
| | that they were painted on a huge
|
| of cottages, all built in a picturesque
| |
| | elaborate cabinet, of immense
|
| style (knapped flints, redbrick quoins,
| |
| | proportions, containing the church
|
| high gables). The cottages were
| |
| | organ.Returning the key to the bungalow I
|
| physically small, but had a grandiose
| |
| | again stood in the rain (not so heavy)
|
| appearance, as if they were miniature
| |
| | while the old lady talked about the
|
| mansions - the rooms inside these
| |
| | village. The parish had been dominated
|
| cottages must be miniscule(the
| |
| | for over a century by a dynasty of
|
| picturesque life was always
| |
| | Rectors who passed the Living down,
|
| uncomfortable). Out in the fields, placed
| |
| | father to son, in a sort of
|
| strategically for theatrical effect, were
| |
| | ecclesiastical monarchy. The organ was
|
| isolated cottages, now ruined and
| |
| | one of the treasures of the area, and had
|
| tumbledown, sheep looking inquisitively
| |
| | been brought to the church during the
|
| out of the gaping holes where the front
| |
| | Second World War when the village it was
|
| doors would have been.Crossing the river
| |
| | previously located in had been taken over
|
| over a small humped-back bridge, I
| |
| | by the military. There had been a long
|
| entered a world that was cold, damp and
| |
| | feud between the Rectors of the church
|
| beautiful. There was an extremely sharp
| |
| | and the lords of the manor, and one of
|
| bend to the road, and then the little
| |
| | the more irascible occupants of the Hall
|
| village street with the main entrance to
| |
| | had been buried just inside the church
|
| the hall at the end (the hall was a jewel
| |
| | door so that everyone entering the
|
| of Edwardian architecture - an expansive,
| |
| | building stepped on his grave. I jotted
|
| self-satisfied sort of building, built
| |
| | down all her stories into my notebook,
|
| for a banker in 1905 and allowed to
| |
| | the falling spots of rain making the ink
|
| run-down in recent years following the
| |
| | run. Just as I was leaving I asked her
|
| death of a young heir in a car crash). To
| |
| | about a reference I had read in an
|
| one side of the hall gates was the
| |
| | obscure local history that the parish had
|
| church, high on a bank, with a round
| |
| | once had two medieval churches, and that
|
| tower and heavy buttresses supporting
| |
| | the ruins of the other church could still
|
| thewalls.I got the key to the church from
| |
| | be seen."Ah, but it's no longer in ruins"
|
| a nearby bungalow, standing in the rain
| |
| | she said mysteriously. "It's been
|
| while the elderly lady searched for it,
| |
| | restored in the last few years. The
|
| then continuing to stand in the rain
| |
| | restoration has been a labour of love by
|
| while she chatted about the village (I
| |
| | one man. It's up on the ridge by the old
|
| was right about thehouses being damp -
| |
| | bridlepath. It's not easy to find. You
|
| the closeness of the river and the canopy
| |
| | can't drive there, you'll have to park up
|
| of trees create a densely moist
| |
| | at the field gate and walk."I wrote down
|
| environment). The grass was very spongy
| |
| | her directions and a rough map so that I
|
| in the rain, and the path up to the
| |
| | could find the way if I ever returned to
|
| church porch was slippery. The lock was
| |
| | the village.
|
| stiff, and I struggled for a while with
| |
| |
|
